1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a water discharging system for a toilet. More particularly, it relates to a water control system for a toilet that can selectively control a volume of water that is discharged from the toilet's water tank.
2. Discussion of Related Art
A common-type toilet has a water tank attached to the toilet body's rear and containing a given amount of water to wash away the body's waste matter by means of a flow of the water. In this common-type toilet's water discharging system that forces the water held in the water tank into the toilet bowl, an opening/closing member, used for opening or closing a drain communicating with the water tank, is directly connected to an inner rear end of an operating lever that is provided to the outside of the water tank. As the opening/closing member is opened by manipulating the operating lever, the water held in the water tank is discharged, and the opening/closing member is then closed to receive and hold a given amount of water. However, this water discharging system is designed to discharge all the water contained in the water tank regardless of a kind of the body's waste matter, and uneconomically consumes the same volume of the water when getting rid of urine or feces.
In order to solve this problem, a two-stage drain valve was disclosed in Korea Utility Model Registration Application No. 91-23211, and granted (Utility Model Publication No. 95-6162).
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4b, this conventional valve is designed to control a volume of water that is held in a water tank W by its selective two-stage control system. The valve includes a drain pipe 10 with a guide bar 12 provided to a drain 11's upper section, and an annular packing 13 mounted on an outer surface of drain 11's upper section, protruding outward; a lower opening/closing member 20 with a cover 22 integrally connected to a cylindrical body 21's lower section under guide bar 12, opened downward, and having a bottom closely contacting packing 13's upper surface, an annular packing 23 mounted on an outer surface of body 21's upper section, protruding outward, and an elevating guide stand 24 provided to cover 22's upper section extending upward and having a guide rectangular hole 25 in its middle; and an upper opening/closing member 30 with a cover 32 integrally connected to a cylindrical body 31's lower section over lower opening/closing member 20, opened downward, and having a bottom closely contacting packing 23's upper surface, guide pins 33 inserted in guide rectangular hole 25 of stand 24 at both sides of cover 32's lower section, and a connector 34 projectingly formed on cover 32's one side to be connected with a line L.
A device for operating such a two-stage drain valve for a toilet was disclosed in Korea Utility Model Registration Application No. 95-24958 and granted (Utility Model Registration No. 127590).
This device 40 includes an operating lever 41 having a handle 411 at one side, a fixing hole 412 formed on its inner middle, and a stopper 413 provided in parallel to the middle of its rear; a support member 42 having a catch groove 421 formed by a given angle on one side of its front surface to limit the rotation of operating lever 41, and a bolt 422 with an opened center; an interval maintaining member 47 joined to support member 42's rear and inserted to a water tank W's through hole; a prop member 43 having a receiving hole 431 to be fitted in bolt 422 of support member 42, a support piece 432 bent to the rear at right angles, and a stopping piece 433 laterally extending under support piece 432; and a check nut 44 screwing onto bolt 422 of support member 42 with prop member 43 interposed.
Device 40 also includes a rotary member 45 having a rotary shaft 452 with a hook 451 formed on one end and tightly fitted in operating lever 41's fixing hole 412, a pair of rotation guide bosses 453 each formed on both side walls of the other end bent at right angles, and a jaw 454 formed at its lower section; and an operating member 46 having a pair of connectors 461 formed on one end to be removably connected to rotation guide bosses 453, a support jaw 462 provided to the lower part of connectors 461 to mate with rotary member 45's jaw 454, and a connection hole 463 provided to its rear end.
This device 40 is assembled in order that each front end of operating lever 41 and support member 42 is positioned outside of water tank W, and prop member 43, rotary member 45, and operating member 46 are placed in water tank W, and connection hole 463 of operating member 46 is connected with upper opening/closing member 30 of the two-stage drain valve via line L.
The operation of device 40 is now fully described.
When washing away the body's waste matter such as urine, requiring a small amount of water, referring to FIG. 4a, as a user turns handle 411 of operating lever 41 clockwise to turn rotary member 45 provided to operating lever 41 downward, the lower section of operating member 46's front end, connected to rotation guide bosses 453 of rotary member 45, is caught on prop member 43's support piece 432 and rotates upward on rotation guide bosses 453, thus drawing line L connected to operating member 46's connection hole 463. At this point, operating lever 41's stopper 413 is kept in catch groove 421's upper portion, and simultaneously with this, rotary member 45 moved down is caught in prop member 43's stopping piece 433 at its lower section and does not turn any more, thereby moving up only upper opening/closing member 30 of the two-stage drain valve connected with line L.
As upper opening/closing member 30 is vertically guided and moved up, cover 32's bottom, closely contacting the upper surface of lower opening/closing member 20's packing 23, is moved upward to open lower opening/closing member 30's central upper part, and the water held in water tank W is discharged to the toilet bowl through lower opening/closing member 20's middle part and drain 11.
When the level of the discharged water is the same as lower opening/closing member 20's upper surface, upper opening/closing member 30 is moved down, and as the bottom of its cover 32 closely contacts packing 23 of lower opening/closing member 20, the draining stops. Upper member 30, moved up in draining a small mount of water, is operated along guide rectangular hole 25 of elevating guide stand 24 in a range of hole 25's height, thereby not interfering with lower member 20.
In case of getting rid of the body's waste matter such as feces by means of a large volume of water, once a user turns handle 411 of operating lever 41 counterclockwise as depicted in FIG. 4b, rotary member 45 of operating lever 41 is turned upward to make stopper 413 of operating lever 41 be kept in catch groove 421's lower portion, and simultaneously with this, rotary member 45 stops rotating. Operating member 46 connected to rotary member 45 is moved in the same direction as rotary member 45 while jaw 454, formed at the other end of rotary member 45, is kept in the bottom of support jaw 462 and maintains the level. As upper opening/closing member 30 of the two-stage drain valve connected to line L is vertically guided and moved up, cover 32's bottom closely contacting packing 23 is moved upward to open the lower opening/closing member's upper part, and guide pins 33 are moved up catching elevating guide stand 24's guide rectangular hole 25. As guide pins 33 are moved up in this manner, lower opening/closing member 20, integrally formed with elevating guide stand 24, is vertically elevated, and moves up cover 22 closely contacting packing 13's upper surface to open drain 11's upper part. Once the upper part of each of lower opening/closing member 20 and drain 11 is opened sequentially, the water held in water tank W is flown into the toilet bowl through drain 11. As the level of the discharged water is the same as drain 11's upper surface, upper opening/closing member 30 is moved down to let cover 32's bottom closely contact packing 13's upper surface, thereby stopping the draining.
However, the above two-stage drain valve is bulky and complicated to increase the production costs, and must be assembled when its water tank is installed into the toilet body. Therefore, in order to provide this drain valve to a conventional toilet's water tank, the overall water tank should be disassembled. In addition, since this valve cannot be made by injection molding until the height of the upper and lower covers that are moved up is determined, the volume of water that drains cannot be controlled in accordance with the conditions of installation of the water tank.
The device for operating the two-stage drain valve is too complicated to assembly, thus increasing the production costs, and in order to select the volume of the water used for getting rid of the body's waste matter, a user has to turn the operating lever clockwise or counterclockwise, which is inconvenient to use.